Datacolor: Color Management can be easy – Free eBook

Colour is at the heart of many of today’s great photographic images, and while we all know that colour management is key, the subject is all too often overlooked.

If you’re a little hazy on what colour management is, in short, it’s a way of ensuring that the original colour in a scene is reproduced as accurately as possible in your image. Be that displayed on a monitor, printer, online or in some other format.

Most seasoned photographers will know a bit about the colour management process. It’s an area of photography that becomes increasingly important as one’s skill and interest increases, and questions arise over the finer points of image quality.

These points can reflect all sorts of issues, such as why are skin tones overly red? Where did that blue cast come from? Why on earth do all interior shots have a distinctively yellow cast? And in extremes, you may find that some colours change hue completely.

All the answers to these issues are solved with colour management, and this is at the heart of Datacolor’s new ‘Color Management Can Be Easy’ eBook.

Colour Management Is Easy

It’s not hard to get to grips with colour management, and once you understand the basic principles, you’ll see a dramatic change in the quality of your images.

Historically colour management was an involved and lengthy process best left to the professionals. In some cases, it was so complex that even the pros would hire in colour experts to calibrate monitors, printers and workflow.

Now, all that has changed because companies like Datacolor aim to make colour management easy and remove any remaining complexity surrounding the subject. New tools and equipment make getting colour right as simple as taking the image itself.

Free colour management eBook

To prove this, Datacolor has released a simple guide to colour management. This guide covers everything you need to know about how to get colour right, from taking the image all the way through to your chosen form of output… let’s say print.

The book touches on each area of the image-capture process: how the camera captures the image, what happens to the image during processing and the differences that the output format can have on the colour of your pictures.

Through the guide, there are helpful explainers as well as tips and tricks that enable you to make the most of the equipment you already own. It also covers what additional tools and equipment you’ll need to ensure your setup is colour management ready.

Based around the Datacolor product family, you’ll discover what products you’ll need for each part of the photographic process, from using the SpyderCUBE and SpyderCHECKR when taking the picture through to using the Spyder5Studio in the digital darkroom as you enhance, print, project or output your images online.

As the title ‘Spyder5 eBook: Color management can be easy’ suggests the process is made easy. All the knowledge contained within this free ebook ensures that you’ll finish the book with an excellent understanding of colour and how to utilise colour management tools.

Colour Management chapters in detail

Chapter One – Understanding Digital Color

Colour management is the process that ties together your whole photographic workflow; from the moment you take the picture through to the time the final print pops out of the printer.

In this first chapter the principle of colour is explained alongside the tools you’ll need to measure colour at each stage. Starting with colour charts when taking the image, light calibration devices for your monitor through to a material calibration device for your printer.

This chapter also looks at the capture medium and discusses why RAW is better than JPEG.

Chapter Two – Taking Calibrated Photos

The basic principles learnt, and you’re ready to get shooting.

This next chapter centralises on the tools that can help you to calibrate your camera. How to get evenly balanced contrast with the SpyderCUBE, perfect colour balance with the SpyderCHECKR and pin-sharp focus using the SpyderLENSCAL.

Chapter Three – Monitor Calibration

Images captured, the following chapter turns towards the digital darkroom and monitors. Ensuring that your monitor’s illumination has the right colours bias is essential, and here the chapter delves into how to use a colourimeter to make sure your screen is displaying correctly.

You’ll also discover how to control ambient light and will be introduced to Datacolor’s soft proofing tools.

Chapter Four – Fine-adjusting Monitors

Monitor calibration basics covered it’s now time to dive deeper into the extended settings.

This chapter looks at those users who use two or more monitors, run a studio or project their images.

These advanced tips may look like they’re aimed at the pro’s but they’rere simple to follow and full of informative information that will smooth your workflow.

Chapter Five – Printer Profiling for Accurate Prints

Printer profiles are something that we often see talked about, but how often do you ensure your computer and printers settings all tally?.

In this chapter, printer profiles are discussed, and you’ll learn how a Spectrocolorimeter is used with Datacolor’s measuring technology.

Chapter Six – Monitor Proofing and Media

The final chapter is an essential read for anyone printing their image, whether at home or sending away to a lab.

It deals with how to proof your images on a monitor, ensuring that the colour you see on screen will be closely reproduced on the output print.

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Datacolor: Color Management can be easy - Free eBook

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Color management is an important factor at every stage of the photographic process; from capturing the image through to the final output. This free eBook by datacolor explains the process in easy terms`